S***!” said Andy Murray. “Sorry about that,” said Andrew Castle. “If you want to be in the thick of the action, you’re going to hear some words.” Indeed. If this year’s Australian Open taught us nothing else, it is that sportspeople, in the course of their business, are inclined to vent “words”.

We’re still not entirely sure about the exact form of the words used by Kim Sears during what the solemnly binding laws of journalism oblige us to refer to as her “foul-mouthed rant” in Melbourne. All we can say for certain is that, as Andy Murray steamed past Tomas Berdych and into tomorrow’s

A year ago, before the men’s singles final at the 2014 World Indoor Bowls Championships, Shaun Williamson, who used to play Barry Evans on EastEnders, took to the carpet at Potters Leisure Resort in Great Yarmouth (the sport’s theatre of dreams) and peeled off a storming rendition of the ballad

Tiring of their side’s struggles with coherence away to Queens Park Rangers last weekend, Manchester United fans called out in unison for a shift of style, not just with the time-honoured cry of: “Attack, attack, attack-attack-attack”, but also, more impressively, with co-ordinated, rhythmical

So finally, after the news coverage, the month-long roll-out, the billboards, the teaser ads, the filmed messages of infatuated welcome from his fellow employees, he walked among us. Or, at any rate, he sat among us, in an extremely nice dark suit, beside Sky Sports’ luminous coffee table, in the

Well, we did say so. As soon as Roy Hodgson declared his desire to get the England squad together for a family dinner in January, we sensed that it would boil down to a quick coffee with Wayne Rooney at the Ritazza on Piccadilly railway station. Not even that, as it turned out. This week, Roy’s

As on so many occasions down the ages, the words of Bobby George rang loud, true and unimprovable. Bashfully attired for finals night in a purple smoking jacket, a purple-striped shirt, a purple bow-tie that seemed to be a rare blend of satin and Christmas wrapping paper, and (topping it all off) a

Have we ever had it so bad? “The present group of professional referees is the worst that we have seen,” says Keith Hackett, himself a retired ref and the former general manager of Professional Game Match Officials Limited, the body responsible for appointing them. Hot words, those, and presumably

Even in the clammy-palmed wake of Gary Anderson’s PDC World Darts Championship victory over Phil “The Power” Taylor, the controversy that we have no hesitation in dubbing “Boardgate” rumbles on. What was going on up there? It was a moment that seemed to defy science and maybe beggar belief

Roy Hodgson has confirmed that the England squad will have a get-together this month to plan their campaign for 2015. “I enjoy working with the team enormously,” the England manager said. “Therefore when my time with them comes to an end, I always miss the players, the training, the work on the